Therion are a pretty recent discovery to me. And I must confess that the combination of classical music, metal, vocals in the vein of Orff’s Carmina Burana, Gothic and orchestrations really manages to stir me up. And in a good way!
Mastermind Christofer Johnsson let more people in the current line up contribute to the song-writing. So we can hear tunes by the great Thomas Vikström and Snowy Shaw as well.
As expected, there is a lot of variety on board. But the melodies and arrangements are striking as always. I think a lot of work must go into thinking this out and recording the little symphonies. Lot´s of detail and piecing things together I am guessing. But as said, the result is intriguing to say the least. Maybe not for everyone, but for people into Gothic, Classical music and or metal, this is something you have to delve into!
As I am not familiar with Therion’s complete back catalogue, I am not sure how the vocals on older material sounded. On this disk we sometimes hear more screaming parts and those are new to me. Yet I think they only add colour to this already beautiful palette. Kudos to Therion, they did it again!